Tuesday, January 11, 2011

My sister hosted a baby shower--a double shower--for a couple good friends of ours, both having their firsts, and both having boys! And she asked me to help with it. It was one of those things that I didn't really have time to do but as soon as she mentioned it I couldn't stop thinking about it! I don't have much opportunity to do boy things...

She wanted to do a book shower. I love book showers! A great friend of mine threw one for me when I was expecting and it was so much fun. I believe there is no such thing as too many books, and my mother always reminded us that we should read to our children every single day. Plus there is something so nice about a gathering focused on memories and suggestions and treasured texts the anticipation of many happy hours reading to little ones.

So I came up with this invitation for the event. I took my inspiration from Golden Books, though the shower concept is bit broader than that--vintage children's books. I love the motif on the spine of Golden Books--those drawings of animals and plants and storybook characters. I love the simple stories. I love the idyllic era they suggest. So I went with the colors gold, white and turquoise and developed my own motif of line drawings on a gold background.

I found a beautiful nursery rhyme illustration in the public domain and came up with a little derivation of "Hey diddle diddle..."

I created a generic version of this invite, with "boy," "girl" and "neutral" wording. If you would like the PDF you can download it here , edit it in Adobe Acrobat Reader, and then print on card stock. It is setup to print two 5x7 cards per letter-sized sheet.

It was so much fun thinking about this vintage book shower I think I'll have to do something along these lines for Tess' first birthday party! What could be better? Don't you love book parties?

Thankyou for your kind comments on flickr regarding the cloche baby hats, I love a pattern I can start and finish in one night once the little ones are asleep.A family member has discovered she is expecting a girl in April and a friend of mine is also expecting, fingers crossed its a girl as i appear to have got a little carried away with the hats! xx

WOW! Thank you for the printables!!! I had a book shower with my second baby and it was wonderful and intimate and sweet! I never felt silly about asking people for one favorite book of theirs for the new baby (every baby deserves a celebration!). I'm planning on doing a book shower for my friend's 3rd baby and am so excited to have such adorable printouts! (thinking for the menu to make it book-themed: snow white's apple, red hen's chicken salad, etc)... any thoughts come to mind on more?

Thanks for all the great comments. I hope some of you can use the printables--will amortize the time I spent! :-) I love the idea of book themed menu to go along. How much fun! Could do a Little Engine That Could cake or Poky Puppy desserts... (can't remember exactly what they are but i think there are two or three in that story)...

I love this idea, and would love to use it for my sister in law's shower! Where did you find the font that matches the font used on the Golden Books? My sister in law is not finding out the sex of the baby, so I need to reword the invite! Any help would be great!

@Jenny: It's actually a Microsoft/Windows font called "French Script MT" --not an exact match but I thought it was pretty close! Also, I recently modified the invite to include a gender neutral version--you might find it helpful. Good luck with the event! -A

I am hosting a shower for my sister-in-law who is a reading specialist and want to do a book themed party. I love your ideas and was wondering if it would be possible to ask for a copy of the "babe" invitation without the information filled in (address, etc.) Also, I would like to print the invitation words and picture separate from the background so I can "assemble" them together. Thank you so much for all the information you have already supplied- love it!

@Amy: The PDF file linked here has multiple versions, including the "babe" one and is editable in Adobe Reader. There is placeholder text for all the info but it can be typed over. I'm not sure what you mean by printing separately and assembling, but if you are hoping to add some dimension to this invite you could print two for every one you need and cut out the elements you want to raise and then adhere them to the invite. Hope that helps!

I am having the hardest time with these invites. I'm co-hosting my best friend's baby shower and after seeing your design we both fell in L-O-V-E with the idea. You are soooooo talented. I just can't get the invite to cooperate with me. My mother-to-be's name is too long for the text box and I can't get it to reformat to make it fit. I can't even change the font size to make it fit.......PLEASE HELP!! :D

This sooo adorable! I am amazed at how detailed and original yet classic your ideas are. I'm using the printables you so kindly supplied for my daughters first birthday. I can't tell you how excited I am! Thanks so much, Christy